England boss Gareth Southgate has guided his side to another semi-final. England beat Switzerland on penalties in quarter-finals. Netherlands edged
England boss Gareth Southgate has guided his side to another semi-final. England beat Switzerland on penalties in quarter-finals. Netherlands edged out Turkey 2-1 in last eight
England turned in their best display of Euro 2024 so far to edge past Switzerland in the last eight on penalties and they may need to improve again if they are to see off the Dutch in the semi-finals.
The Three Lions carried more threat and were resilient against a well-organized Swiss outfit and again responded well after going behind with Bukayo Saka’s fine strike taking the game to extra-time.
There still looks like there is a lot more to come from Gareth Southgate’s side, who scored with their first shot on target in Dusseldorf, and they are sure to be tested by a talented Netherlands team.
Team news
England have defender Marc Guehi available again after he served his one-game ban against the Swiss and he is expected to return at Ezri Konsa’s expense.
Luke Shaw came off the bench at the weekend and the Manchester United full-back is now in line to make his first start in the tournament with Kieran Trippier tipped to drop out of the eleven.
Steven Bergwijn came off at half-time against Turkey and his place in the Dutch side looks under threat from Jeremie Frimpong or Donyell Malen.
Ronald Koeman is likely to keep changes to a minimum, though he does have plenty of good options if he does opt to freshen things up with Tottenham’s Micky van de Ven and PSV Eindhoven’s Joey Veerman among them.
The statistics
Memphis Depay has had 18 attempts in the tournament — more than any other Dutch player — but has only scored one goal in Germany so far.
Netherlands forward Cody Gakpo is the joint-leading scorer in Euro 2024 with three goals.
Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane have both scored twice in the tournament for England.
There have been 22 meetings between the sides down the years with the Netherlands winning seven, England have six victories and there have been nine draws.
This is the first time the two countries have played each other in a major tournament since Euro 96 — when England memorably won a group stage-clash 4-1 at Wembley.
Prediction
Ronald Koeman has his eye on reaching the Euro 2024 final with the Netherlands
England were forced to dig deep against Switzerland to keep their Euros dream alive and while the performance was still lacking in quality at times, Southgate’s side are displaying the grit and determination also needed to go far in tournaments.
Saka was much more like the player that dazzled for Arsenal last season and took his goal brilliantly, while the five penalties were all despatched convincingly to eventually secure a semi-final place.
The Three Lions take on a Dutch outfit next that has often enthralled going forward but has also been shaky at the back and this could be another closely-fought tie.
Like England, Koeman’s team displayed plenty of character to come from 1-0 down to edge out Turkey 2-1 in their last-eight victory and they have attacking players like Gakpo and Depay who can cause the Three Lions problems.